Cob: plumbing? composting toilets?

[Amanda Peck]

I'm interested in possible solutions on plumbing as well.

I have no experience with store-bought composting toilets.  Talked once to a 
woman who had decided to take hers out, but I've no idea if it was correctly 
sized for her family (she seemed happy with her sawdust toilet).  Have only 
read a few things about worm-eating affairs.  When I had a worm bin the 
worms liked carrots a WHOLE lot better than cat poop.

I have encountered old-time outhouses (but not recently), sawdust toilets, 
"mouldering toilets" and ultra-low-flow ones that go into a septic tank--but 
could go into a (large, I think) store-bought composting toilet.

Joseph Jenkins' (the humanure guy) web site:

http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

Disadvantages--trotting back and forth to empty the bucket.  Letting the 
stuff sit for a year (And I still got tomato seeds growing from it) And I 
expect that putting it on a concrete (boo hiss) pad would be good, although 
no one I know does that.
Advantages--it's cheap! Apparently, absent serious communicable diseases, 
it's safe enough.  The bucket can go anywhere. Anyone can do this!

Mouldering toilets.  Here's a web site, with links

http://hobbit-house.webhostme.com/resources/sunnyjohn/TPFrameSet.htm

Disadvantages. It's built--rather than installed the way a composting toilet 
is, or just set there--like a sawdust toilet.  It's basically a two-story 
affair.  You CAN get pretty complicated on design--separating urine, for 
instance, multiple chambers, and so on.  Ventilation vs cooling are 
considerations, and the one I'm familiar with needs to have sawdust or wood 
chips (lime might work) added.

Advantages:  Long storage times are possible.  Less maintenance than most of 
the alternatives.  No good reason why this cannot be combined with a sawdust 
toilet--in the winter, for the sick or unable to trot out (and up stairs).

My friends who are hipped on thermal mass have a very low flow toilet--it 
works just fine.  It may well be some kind of marine or travel trailer one 
(I don't use mine--lack of running water, disinclination to empty the 
black-water tank one bucket at a time--trailer's below the level of the 
septic tank entrance).  The outlet may need to go straight down.  Not sure 
about the u-shaped traps that keep methane and terrible odors from coming 
back into the house.

The serious method is artificial wetlands.  There's even a storebought 
version of this. Quite a bit of work, a lot of engineering, but it sure 
sounds wonderful.  Complete with quacking mallards.

I doubt if many people are using cob in a system where the pipes go down to 
the basement.  Into a crawl-space is possible, even if the only way into it 
is through a trap door in the bathroom or kitchen.  Not a system used 
anywhere I'm familiar with, but I understand there are places up north where 
it's common.

I want entrances to be pretty much flush with the ground, certainly no 
steps.







I've been lurking a bit, read the discussion about whether to leave conduit
exposed or embed it in the cob, also read a bit of discussion about pipes
used for heating imbedded in floors.

I'm curious as to whether people run pipes through the cob, and if so, what
if one needs repair?  In my "conventional" home, most plumbing is more or
less exposed (cosmetically masked by fixtures and cupboards, et cetera), and
then goes through the floor to be exposed again in the basement.  Is the
same system used in most cob homes?  What are YOU doing about plumbing?

Also, has anyone here had experience with composting toilets?  What are the
pros and cons?

Thanks!


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